This month we are taking a look at some of the biggest shows and personalities from the 1950s. We are beginning with Dinah Shore, a household name in the fifties.
Frances Rose Shore was born in 1916 in Tennessee. Her parents were Russian-Jewish shopkeepers. At eighteen months old, she was diagnosed with polio. The only treatment at the time was bed rest. She recovered under her mother’s nursing but retained a deformed foot and a limp. She loved to sing and often performed for customers at her parents’ store. Despite her limp, Dinah became active in athletics and was a cheerleader in high school.
She enrolled at Vanderbilt University, graduating in 1938 with a degree in sociology. Singing was still her passion, and she visited the Grand Ole Opry, making her radio debut on WSM, a Nashville station. She moved to New York, auditioning for many roles. She often sang the song “Dinah,” and when DJ Martin Block couldn’t remember her name, he asked for the Dinah girl and Dinah became her stage name. She sang with Frank Sinatra at WNEW in New York and performed with the Xavier Cugat orchestra in 1940. That year she also became a regular on “Time to Smile,” Eddie Cantor’s radio show. He taught her to develop comedic timing and how to connect with an audience.
In 1948 she was offered her own radio show, “Call for Music.” She also performed for the troops during WWII.
Shore married actor Robert Montgomery in 1943, and they were married almost twenty years. Sinatra’s valet claimed Shore and Sinatra had a long-term affair throughout the 1950s but I could never verify that.
During the fifties, Shore signed on with RCA Victor to record her music. “Love and Marriage” and “Whatever Lola Wants” were top 20 hits in 1955. In 1959 she went to Capitol Records for three years.
“The Dinah Shore Show” aired on radio on NBC in 1950. She was a very popular singer and entertainer throughout the fifties and sixties. The seventies transitioned her to television where she hosted Dinah’s Place from 1970-74, Dinah and Friends in syndication from 1974-1980. She talked with celebrities and interviewed experts about wellness, exercise, and home décor. Frank Sinatra shared his famous spaghetti sauce recipe, and Ginger Rogers showed her how to throw a clay pot. Tina Turner, David Bowie, and Iggy Pop all performed on her show. Shore won six Emmys for her television work.
During the sixties, Shore was romantically involved with Dick Martin, Eddie Fisher, and Rod Taylor and had a short marriage with Maurice Smith, a tennis player. She and Burt Reynolds had a well-known relationship for four years during the early seventies.
From 1989-1992 she hosted one additional show, A Conversation with Dinah on cable TNN.
In later years she was also able to spend more time on her hobbies of painting and cooking.
Shore was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993 and passed away in 1994 from the disease. Her Palm Springs mid-century modern home was purchased by Leonard DeCaprio in 2014.
While Shore was seen on television more in the seventies, in the fifties she was beloved for her singing career and that’s when she became a household name.
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